U.S. District Judge Carl Barbier issued a ruling Monday that Deepwater Horizon oil spill cleanup workers that fell ill after the original class action lawsuit was filed will have the right to a jury trial in pursuit of compensation. According to a report by Courthouse News Service, Barbier’s ruling, issued in response to BP’s motion to strike a plaintiff’s request for a jury trial, explains: “By virtue of [the medical class action settlement], class members released many claims against BP for exposure-related injuries, however, claims for ‘Late-Manifested Physical Injuries’ were generally exempted from this release…If a class member wished to assert a claim for Later-Manifested Physical Injury against BP, she could, after following certain procedures.”

Also contained in the five page ruling was a stern admonishment of BP’s counsel for misquoting precedential cases. Tom Young with The Legal Examiner pulls this footnote in particular: “The Court also cautions BP against misquoting cases to the court. Page three of BP’s reply brief purports to quote a sentence from Brotherhood Shipping, but BP’s quote omits, without even an ellipsis, the end of the sentence. Although this instance might not rise to the level of outright misrepresentation, BP’s selective omission does obscure the meaning of the source material…”

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